Montgomery County schools rated in Texas Monthly magazine

Nancy Flake and Sondra Bosse

Published 6:00 pm, Saturday, November 17, 2001

The November issue of Texas Monthly magazine features what the publication calls "the most accurate and most comprehensive ranking of Texas Schools ever produced," compiled and analyzed by nonprofit group Just for the Kids.

In the Just for the Kids rankings, only eight Montgomery County schools earned top honors, while seven are at the bottom of the pile.

Most are somewhere in the middle.

The organization began its own ranking system after being founded by Dallas attorney Tom Luce in 1995. Over the course of several years, Just for the Kids culled data on 5,400 schools based on each school's TAAS proficiency rate of 85, as opposed to a passing rate of 70. They then compared schools with similar populations of economically disadvantaged students.

The end result is a ranking system vastly different from the state's school accountability ratings, based on TAAS passing scores and drop-out rates.

Each campus was rated against the highest performing schools in its economic grouping. The difference between a school's performance and the performance of the highest-performing schools is called the "opportunity gap."

A five-star school means it is in the top 20 percent of schools in its economic group, while a one-star school is in the bottom 20 percent.

The differences between these new rankings and the accountability ratings can be striking, especially when noting that of the 14 Conroe school district campuses earning an "exemplary" rating this year, only five received five stars from Just for the Kids.

David Elementary School in The Woodlands, which has been 'exemplary' for several years and earned a national Blue Ribbon Award in May, got three stars from Just for the Kids.

The school has a 91 TAAS proficiency score in reading and a score of 63 in math, with only one percent of its students falling into the economically disadvantaged level.

On the other hand, Moorhead Junior High School, located in the east part of Montgomery County, traditionally a lower-income area, was the only secondary school in Montgomery County to receive five stars.

Fifty-one percent of Moorhead's students are economically disadvantaged, but they earned an 87 TAAS proficiency score in reading, and a 77 in math.

"Part of it is because we're different in a lot of ways," Greg Poole, former principal of Moorhead and current principal of Caney Creek High School, said. "We have viewed TAAS as an opportunity to put us on a level playing field.

"The mindset here is one of motivation."

Poole added that while Moorhead students work hard on TAAS, it's not a matter of "teaching to the test," or concentrating so much on TAAS at the expense of other courses.

"We have good kids with a great work ethic," he said. "We have to work for what we get.

"This school was started with the belief that this is 'our school.'"

Now, Poole has the chance to help raise Caney Creek, which earned only one Just for the Kids star, up to the same levels Moorhead has achieved.

With an economically disadvantaged student population of 34 percent, Caney Creek has a 74 TAAS proficiency score in reading, while math is somewhat lower, with a score of 42.

"We're improving that," Poole said. "Caney Creek has an 'acceptable' rating on the TAAS, and I assure you that one star is not acceptable, and an acceptable TAAS score is not acceptable.

"People should expect us to change it — our job is to produce results."

Not every public school in Montgomery County even made it to the rankings system. Just for Kids left out schools that have opened since 1997, and high schools that do not have grades nine and ten, such as The Woodlands High School.

The listing leaves out 21 county schools, with 14 of those in the Conroe district.

Some administrators feel the new rankings can be helpful in improving curriculum and academic programs; others feel the rankings are interesting, but won't make much of a difference.

"These ratings offer a different way of viewing the data on student achievement and will give us another perspective on our students' academic improvement over time," said Dr. Jean Stewart, assistant superintendent for elementary education in the Conroe school district. "As an addition to the information we receive through the AEIS (Academic Excellence Indicator System) reports, I think this information will be helpful as we plan for the improvement of students' academic progress."

While Stewart sees the Just for the Kids rankings as another way to look at data, the rating system is weakened by its very complexity, according to Mary Jane DeBusk, assistant superintendent for curriculum in the Willis school district.

"For example, if an elementary school is less than three years old, it was not part of the rating system," she noted. "Cannan Elementary, which opened at the beginning of the 1999-2000 school year, has been a recognized campus for two consecutive years.

"C.C. Hardy Intermediate, also a recognized campus for two consecutive years, is not part of the rating system because it houses only the 5th and 6th grade."

Turner Elementary School, ranked "exemplary" in the 2001 accountability ratings, got five stars from Just for the Kids. It has an economically disadvantaged student population of 47 percent, with TAAS proficiency scores of 87 in reading and 72 in math.

The poorest performer of the Willis district in the new rankings turned out to be Lynn Lucas Middle School, with two stars.

The school, with 46 percent economically disadvantaged students, has an "acceptable" rating from the state.

TAAS proficiency scores for Lynn Lucas are 75 in reading and 64 in math.

When asked what reasons there might be for the wide variations in ratings between Turner and Lynn Lucas, DeBusk replied, "In Willis ISD, each campus looks at the total child to determine what strategies to use so that he/she will perform at a higher level.

"Our philosophy is to leave no child behind."

In Conroe schools, determining whether special programs for economically disadvantaged are needed is left in the hands of administrators, faculty and parents at each school.

"All CISD campuses determine the needs of their students and develop their own plan for academic improvement based on students' needs," Stewart said.

"Programs may vary from campus to campus as indicated by students' needs. Our campuses frequently meet in different groupings (with other grade-level campuses, by feeder systems, by teams with similar needs) to discuss successful strategies, techniques and programs that could be helpful to other campuses."

Staff development is provided on a continuous basis, she added, which provides all campuses with training in the best research-based instructional practices for student achievement.

In Willis, "we have programs designed to meet the needs of ALL students," DeBusk said.

The Montgomery system, which has received the state's "recognized" rating for several years, also fared well in the Just for the Kids ratings.

Montgomery Elementary, with a 28 percent economically disadvantaged student population and TAAS proficiency scores of 83 in reading and 65 in math, earned five stars.

The middle school, which got four stars, has TAAS proficiency scores of 88 in reading and 86 in math, with 21 percent of its students economically disadvantaged.

A three-star rating was given to Montgomery High School, which has 15 percent of its students listed as economically disadvantaged, and a TAAS proficiency score of 86 in reading and 76 in math.

Even with Montgomery schools coming out smelling like the proverbial rose, officials still find the data and its analysis more muddy than clear.

"I do not fully understand the criteria for establishing school comparison groups, nor am I certain of the validity of these criteria," said Barbara Polnick, who oversees accountability for the district. "For example, among the criteria for grouping students is the school's percentage of economically disadvantaged students.